


what i could engrave on the world

by yeastlings



Series: lotus flowers wildly blooming [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drug Use, Fear, M/M, Major Character Injury, Near Death Experiences, Vomiting, hunter x hunter au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:53:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24136150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeastlings/pseuds/yeastlings
Summary: Hinata goes missing while on a mission to the Dark Continent. Even though they were barely acquaintances before the expedition, Atsumu will do anything to find him, because there are questions he needs Hinata to answer.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Series: lotus flowers wildly blooming [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741705
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	what i could engrave on the world

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a warm-up to stretch my writing muscles. This takes place in a HunterxHunter alternate universe, but I don't think you need a lot of knowledge about the series to follow along.

By the time they find Hinata, Bokuto is groggy from a head wound that still oozes dark blood every once in a while; Oikawa is limping along stubbornly despite the fact that his knee has swollen to the size of an orange and turned a sickening shade of dark purple; and Atsumu is running a fever from a poisoned bite.

He didn’t even see what did it: he woke up because of the pain, saw the bite mark on his arm, and jammed a syringe of maximum-dose emetic into the first exposed vein he could find. Even though he threw up what felt like an entire month’s worth of food, the fever still hit him within the hour and the muscle spasms had him clutching onto Bokuto’s shoulder for support for a few days. Any one of them can use a reprieve from the constant pain, but the Breath of Archangel card remains in a concealed pocket of Atsumu’s knapsack, its presence known only to him.

It was a pain in the ass to get the card. Atsumu wanted it because it was rare and difficult to obtain and therefore irresistibly cool. He took the card to the Dark Continent as a “just-in-case” charm, a last resort if emetics and powdered milk didn’t do the job. After hearing about what happened to the expedition before his, he was shaken to the core, so he told himself that he wouldn’t be a stupid kid anymore. He would be prepared for the worst; he wouldn’t underestimate the forces inhabiting the Dark Continent; he would get strong enough to overcome whatever lay ahead. His confidence was laughable.

Using Breath of Archangel was supposed to be a far-off hypothetical, but as he drags one foot ahead of the other, willing away the muscle tremors, Atsumu knows exactly what—or rather, who—he’s saving it for. Hinata went missing five days ago. If he’s still alive—and Atsumu knows that’s a big “if,” even without Oikawa reminding him with an expression that says he’s really trying to convince himself—he’ll be in a condition that not even Sakusa’s array of medical supplies can repair. Not that Sakusa’s with them, anyway. He and Komori are also missing. Atsumu doesn’t wish anything bad on them, but he doesn’t have enough energy left to give more than a fleeting fuck.

And if Hinata is alive but even Breath of Archangel can’t save him, because the Dark Continent doesn’t play by any of the rules Atsumu has taken for granted until now? Well, fuck it, he thinks grimly. He’ll use it on himself. He promised Osamu that he would come home, and that was the first and only promise he cared about until he stepped onto the airship and saw Hinata Shouyou again.

The last time they met was at tryouts for the previous Dark Continent expedition, when they were only teenagers. They both got knocked out early on and parted on bad terms, but a part of Atsumu always wanted to see Hinata again so he could ask him, “Did you get scared, too? Did you cry hysterically after hearing about the expedition we could have been on, because you saw just how big and dangerous the world was and how oblivious you were to it? Do you still wonder if, even now, you’ve only seen the eye of the monster? If you do, then why the fuck are you on this airship?”

The questions stuck in his throat when Hinata smiled at him and said, “Atsumu-san, this time I’ll make you say I’m not a scrub!” So now he’ll find Hinata no matter what, because he needs to know the answers.

Two weeks after stepping foot onto the Dark Continent and one week after Hinata went missing, Atsumu sees the crown and beak of a red-eyed Nen beast. Its gigantic black wings, ragged around the edges, envelope a figure that Atsumu has looked for ever since he realized that all the world is cast in shadows. He starts running, swinging the knapsack around to his front so he can reach for the Breath of Archangel hidden inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song "Ash," by LiSA. 
> 
> This takes place in the same universe as trilobite's [REQUIEM FOR THE LOST DAYS](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23975623A), wherein you find out what exactly happened to Sakusa and Komori. There is emotional devastation there, too.
> 
> As trilobites said in REQUIEM, Atsumu is an Enhancer. He uses his Nen to enhance the dual swords that he wields. Hinata is a Specialist who can summon a Nen beast (it's a crow, obviously). If you take Atsumu's "Who needs memories?" mentality and stretch it to the extreme in a life-or-death universe like HunterxHunter, it follows that he's the type of person who can't stay still until he's seen for himself just what lies beyond the boundaries of the known world, even if it kills him. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this all the way to the end. Every comment and kudo is appreciated! 
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/ninetalesk)


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